Ahoy, squirts! Quint here from Santa Barbara. I just got back from the fest's Modern Master award ceremony where they spent about 2 hours going over George Clooney's filmography and talking about it with the big man himself (yes, even BATMAN & ROBIN and RED SURF, although sadly enough no RETURN OF THE KILLER TOMATOES). Here's an arty pic of Clooney accepting his award from his GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK co-writer Grant Heslov.

Before the big awards ceremony I was able to sneak a short one on one interview with the man. We had only 6 or 7 minutes, but we do get to chat about Austin, GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK, a brand new Coen Bros project that I have never heard of and yes... a dirty joke. I was snuck in after Clooney finished up a handful of TV chats and the interview started after a quick introduction. Enjoy the chat!

GEORGE CLOONEY: You live down here?

QUINT: No, I live in Austin.

GEORGE CLOONEY: (smiles) The whole gang, man. The Ain't It Cool News boys!

QUINT: Well, Drew lives in Los Angeles, but Austin is very much the hub...

GEORGE CLOONEY: Yeah. Actually, I know Drew a little bit. He's friends with my assistant, Amy... How's it going there? Is it fun?

QUINT: In Austin? It's a blast.

GEORGE CLOONEY: I just think it's the greatest town... 6th Street... It's beautiful. I used to go out and play golf at Barton Creek and hang out there. We're lousy golfers, but we just liked Barton Creek so much. We'd go out and hang out... get drunk.

QUINT: I love South Austin. I love the city, too, but I love being where the green is.

GEORGE CLOONEY: It really is the wildest place. It's like this little oasis...

QUINT: Well, they call it the loop hole in the Bible belt.

GEORGE CLOONEY: Is that what they call it? (laughs)

QUINT: Congratulations on the nominations, by the way.

GEORGE CLOONEY: Thanks.

QUINT: I was just going through the nominations and just kept seeing SYRIANA, GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK and GOOD NIGHT and GOOD NIGHT. You got the scattershot there...

GEORGE CLOONEY: That's what I try to do. Throw out as many as you can... cast a net! (laughs)

QUINT: I'm really happy that GOOD NIGHT did so well. I love that you were able to put out a film that has nothing to do with modern politics on the surface, but really is a giant cautionary tale... Kinda like hiding medicine in a spoonful of sugar.

GEORGE CLOONEY: I think the films are best when the sort of... a lot of times the trick is to use historic references. (Arthur) Miller did it... a lot of people have done it over the years... Using the Salem Witch Hunt to talk about (Senator Joseph) McCarthy with THE CRUCIBLE. To me, the idea is it's probably best not to hit things directly on the head. It never works. People don't really want to be preached directly at... I think. Especially at a time where everything is really polarized.

That's why movies had messages like GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER. That's such a good one because they didn't say, "This is bad!" They had Spencer Tracy going, "I'm not a bigot... but don't marry my daughter."

So, it's always great if you can sort of house it in some other way. Quite honestly I had a piece that I cut, a montage at the end that sort of brought modern journalism up to date. It had Oswald being shot and went through all the things, including the guy blowing his head off on KTLA... and them all laughing about it at the time.

What I realized was that it was commenting on the story I had just told. Rather than do that, I actually had to leave it as it stood and let people make their own decisions.

QUINT: That's exactly right. If you let the audience put the pieces together themselves they don't feel like...

GEORGE CLOONEY: ... like they're being manipulated. Exactly. I think people in general are smart enough that they don't really like being manipulated. Most people.

QUINT: Do you think you would have told this story if it wasn't for this current state of politics?

GEORGE CLOONEY: No. I mean... Actually, let me think about that. I wouldn't have made the movie the way I made it. I had actually tried to put a movie of the week together. I fictionalized some of the characters and stuff about Murrow taking on McCarthy because at that period of time I knew very little (about the subject matter).

What I realized was, in the world of swift boats and issues like that, I realized that the trick was that we couldn't get any facts wrong. We had to be really, really careful with our facts because nowadays anything you get wrong gets completely marginalized. So, I certainly wouldn't have had the attention to detail that I did, but I also don't know that I would have had the passion to really get there...

You know, I was a pretty good sized target. Listen, I put myself there. I stood out and said, "Hey, we should ask questions before we send kids off to get shot at or start shooting at other people," and I was put on the cover of a magazine and called a traitor. It is interesting, you know, because there is that moment where you go, "Screw you!" But on the other hand if you're demanding freedom of speech you can't say, "But don't say bad shit about me."

So, part of it was then, "Okay, well... if we're gonna play, let's play. Okay, if you want to do that, then I'm going to at least try and say these are some arguments we should be talking about." It doesn't seem ever wrong to actually have an open discussion, which is one thing that was not allowed for a period of time.

QUINT: Before they kick me out here, can we talk about how THE GOOD GERMAN is going?

GEORGE CLOONEY: We finished it. We wrapped and Steven (Soderbergh)'s in post. He showed us a cut of the film 5 days after we wrapped.

QUINT: Of course he did! (laughs)

GEORGE CLOONEY: (laughs) That's his thing. He's so good. He edits while he shoots. It's black and white again and it's beautiful. He shot the hell out of it. It's a murder mystery in post-WW2 Germany. It's really interesting and Cate Blanchett is amazing and Tobey Maguire is great. I really loved working on it, actually. It was fun.

QUINT: It's one of the more interesting projects for me and I suspect a big one for a lot of the readers of the site... the ones that aren't solely focused on just super hero movies, that is.

GEORGE CLOONEY: Right! It's unbelievable... I'll go on the internet and look it up and it's unbelievable how many people know so much... Like they'll get really angry if you mess with a character. Like an Andy Dick character... No... Andy Dick? No, a Philip K. Dick character. (pauses) If you mess with Andy Dick's character... you're in trouble! (laughs) But if you mess with a Philip K. Dick character, they'll go apeshit. Which is amazing. I find it fascinating. It forces filmmakers to go, "Don't do that or we'll get killed," which is good.

GEORGE CLOONEY: I really like him a lot, too. Did you see WAKING LIFE?

QUINT: Oh, yeah.

GEORGE CLOONEY: I really love that movie. Soderbergh acts in it. He's one of the guys that's drawn into it.

QUINT: I didn't know that...

(At this point I got a last minute warning, so I skip down to the last question)

QUINT: So, what's your favorite dirty joke?

GEORGE CLOONEY: My favorite dirty joke... oh, man.

QUINT: Usually, it's what comes to mind first, not the favorite.

GEORGE CLOONEY: I know, but they're usually so goddamn long I have to think of the ones that aren't, so... I'll have to think about this for a minute... what's your other question and I'll come up with it.

QUINT: The only other thing I wanted to bring up was your collaboration with the Coen Bros because I'm a huuuuge Coen Bros fan...

GEORGE CLOONEY: I'm going to be doing another film with them probably in the Spring. It's called BURN AFTER READING. It's really fun, really funny. I'll do anything they want. I really will... (pause)

A guy is in a bar. He's so drunk he throws up all over himself. He tells the bartender, "What am I doing? When I go home my wife's going to kill me..." The bartender puts twenty dollars in his shirt pocket and says, "Go home..." Have you heard this one?

QUINT: No, I haven't heard it.

GEORGE CLOONEY: He says, "Go home and tell your wife you were in a bar and a guy came up... he was drunk, threw up all over you, but put $20 in your shirt pocket." He goes home, walks in and his wife says, "Hap, look at you. You threw up all over yourself!"

He goes, "Honey, a guy got drunk and threw up on me and he put $20 in my shirt pocket." She reaches in and pulls out $40 and says, "What's the other $20 for?" He says, "He shit in my pants, too!"

And there you have it. I really wish I had just 2 more minutes to dig a little more about this Coen project BURN AFTER READING. Any spies out there that have any knowledge of this project send me an email and let me know what's going on with it. Any new Coen Bros movie is good news in my book!

Clooney came off as a real genuine guy. Sincere, balanced and totally level-headed. And he gave me a dirty joke! How about that? Hope you folks enjoyed the interview. I have more coming... one that may even be bigger than this cat I just talked to. I also have a world exclusive production visit to spill about as well as my coverage of the Santa Barbara Film Festival, so keep your eyes peeled, squirts!

I really like the way Clooney&#39;s been going. He&#39;s been getting political, but not in a Penn-get-in-a-boat kinda way, he&#39;s been doing it through his art - very mature of him. I used to hate him (particularly post-Batman&Robin), but more and more I have this immense sort of respect for the guy. I wish him best of luck in the Oscars (though I just saw Munich and boy, does GNGL have competition) and for future filmmaking and dirty-joke telling.

There&#39;s a film playing there called "Puzzlehead" about a guy who creates an android double of himself, which sounds fascinating. Also, hopefully Jim Cameron will open the curtain a bit on his next project.

Damn if Clooney isn&#39;t earning more and more of my respect with each project he gets involved in. How long before the first right-wing loony pops in to declare what a traitor Clooney is? 10... 9... 8... 7...

What the....
Lee Tamahori...
Director of "Once Were Warriors"
Offered sex for money to a policeman whilst dressed as a woman?
I realise this is slightly off topic but still.
http://www.nationalledger.com/artman/publish/article_27263244.shtml

He gave up being a Doctor to be an actor and now a director? I know films are fun, but wouldn&#39;t he be better still helping people in hospital? Confessions of a Dangerous Mind was great, but not as great as healing people.

Beneath the "sexy guy" (or whatever) image, he actually seems to be a cool guy... and he has unusually good taste in the kinds of movies that he makes. I&#39;m not sure about Best Director, but I hope he at least wins Best Supporting Actor.

The most cosseted, self-indulgent, worthless people in the universe are worried their suffering has been downgraded. For 50 years Hollywood drama queens have churned out plays, movies, TV shows, books, poems, allegories, museum exhibits, personal testimonials, dioramas, interpretive dances, wood carvings, cave paintings, needlepoint wall hangings and scatological limericks about their victimization at the hands of a brute named Joe McCarthy. Schoolchildren who will learn nothing about George Washington, Thomas Edison or Paul Revere are forced to read chapter and verse about the black night of fascism (BNOF) under McCarthy.
But half a century of myth-making later, one little book comes out and gives the contrary view

He hates Jennifer Lopez and said he will never work with her again cause she is a total cuntrag, said the scene in the trunk in Out Of Sight was torture cause she was so nasty. Second, he got in a near fistfight with that over-hyped scumbag man-child David O. Russell after Russell had one of his notorious hissy-fits and berated a script girl and fired her. Clooney stuck up for her. That was nice. Third, he was responsible for the brilliance that was UNSCRIPTED, easily one of the best shows ever made. Frank Langella is a god in it, check it out. Sidenote: a piece of ass friend of mine works at a hot bar in NYC, and she swears Clooney is a homosexual, as she has seen him being intimate in the VIP section with numerous hot young men. Take it for what you will.

...Thunderballs! Just like clockwork. For those of you who want to know what Thunderballs is really all about, feel free to read his posts in the Why We Fight talkback. His words truly speak for themselves: http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=22198

Cut and paste an Ann (holy shit the bitch is crazy stupid) Coulter (sp) article up here. Wow, this site has a whole lotta cleaning to get that skanks moronic smell out of these talk back rooms. Hey lets make a movie about what a hero the good ol&#39; senator was.
Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
-Ben Franklin

And what liberties were given up for safety? Whose civil liberties were violated? Where are all the people McCarthy was wrong about? Now, perhaps he went about it the wrong way, but McCarthy was a true patriot, who saw the real threat the Soviets embodied. No matter that Liberlas of the time, and in fact, Liberals of today, saw no problem with the Soviet Union, and actively defended Communism and Stalin himself. Anyone who thought McCarthy denied civil liberties never had to live in Russia under Stalin, but don&#39;t let that get in the way all you Liberals. We know there could be nothing worse than McCarthyism in this world. Famine, disease, poverty, all pale in comparison to McCarthy!!! Same with the wiretapping thing with Bush. And you wonder why no Americans ever trust Democrats with national security? Libs are more concerned with the rights of those who call al-Qaeda from the U.S. than they are with the rights of all the people murdered by Islamic terrorists. Clooney is just pissed that alot of McCarthy&#39;s targets were in fact Soviet sympathizers, if not outright spies. Kinda blows a hole in the whole "we are famous, we are noble" argument.

...is one of those dumbasses who thinks that as long as there&#39;s anyplace else on Earth that&#39;s worse than America, then faults in America should never be addressed -- unless, of course, they&#39;re "liberal" faults, a term which in Thunderballs&#39; amazing and archaic worldview also encompasses George W Bush. I know loads of liberals, Thunderballs, and I have yet to meet one who doesn&#39;t hate Communism or didn&#39;t detest the Soviet Union while it still existed. As usual, you&#39;re the master of unfounded blanket statements, unbelievable myopia, and a staggering lack of historical and political insight.

You mean other than the over 600 people McCarthy subpoenaed, many of which had their names made public when they took the 5th during questioning (and, leveraging government influence,basically the use of smear tactics as punishment against using the 5th is one of those civil liberty violations you were just asking about), or other than the 80 or so people that were pressured to resign or were outright dismissed due to McCarthy&#39;s accusations? Or other than guys like General George C. Marshall, who McCarthy went so far as to accuse of treason, or Millard Tydings, who&#39;s political career was effectively ended by McCarthy&#39;s accusations (as well as the distribution of a doctored photo showing Tydings with Communists), or the people McCarthy publicly "outed" trying to defend his claims to the Tyding committee? Other than those people, yea, McCarthy was spot on.

...top notch. And I like Clooney more and more, which is weird. Usually it&#39;s the oposite. But I agree with his polotics and it&#39;s bad ass that somebody in his position carries through with them in an intelligent and thought provoking way - regardless of how it may, or may not, affect their career. That I like most of his film work doesn&#39;t hurt either I suppose.

he goes an posts an entire article by someone else to support his "point," by Anne Coulter, no less AND he calls McCarthy as "true patriot." Next he&#39;ll try to convince us that all people of Middle Eastern persuasion should be held in interment camps until the Iraq War is over. What a douche.

Who were the people up in arms when Reagan called the Soviet Union the Evil Empire? Who marched in the streets to stop the U.S. from building nuclear weapons? Who was up in arms when Reagan said the Soviet Union could be defeated? And who makes you read the Communist Manifesto at school? That&#39;s right, LEFTISTS!!! Now we get the revisionist history that the Left really DID hate Russia!! The Left really DID hate Communism!!! Fuck Pazuzu, get that fucking pinhead of yours out of that hallway you call an asshole.

It&#39;s "for fuck&#39;s sake," retard. Leftists made me read the Communist Manifesto in high school? I doubt you&#39;ve even read it, fuckwit. Those fucking civil rights-loving leftists! I wonder how long it is before he tries to point out that Lincoln was a Republican and HE freed the slaves?

quint, i appreciate all the work you put into this site, which i enjoy very much. but you dropped the ball here. when clooney brings up a new coen bros. film that no one has ever heard of, and you are running out of time, your priority as a reporter should be to get more details on that project, not to get a dirty joke because that is your "trademark." very lame. this is a film site, not a quint site. get over yourself.

...it makes it that much harder to dismiss it out of hand in the longest post ever written by some retard who takes a dislike to some film they&#39;ve never seen. ----- Thunderballs, you&#39;re just funny.

... it&#39;s an interesting choice to post an Ann Coulter (!) column to counter Clooney and his film, when she admits she will never actually sit down and watch it. How can she comment on the accuracy of Clooney&#39;s film? She&#39;s pissed because he spoke badly of her book and she wants to rip her claws into him. I&#39;m not even going to get into what an idiot Coulter is, because most sane people (including Conservatives) can see that. But your later post disturbs me more. Are we to risk other, perceived "lesser" freedoms simply because there are "greater" things happening? Is that really the country you want to live in? Who, then, is the watchdog for when liberties are OK to be violated for the "good" of the country? You wanna appoint someone or just let the president decide? If we do that, then what&#39;s the point of the Constitution? And your comments on McCarthy suggest that you have no idea what you&#39;re talking about, so we&#39;ll just move on ...

but, seeing as how you&#39;re new around these parts, I ought to clear a couple things up- first of all the word is FRIST! not first. And secondly you were more like third or fourth, so get it right next time ;-)

Incidentally, everytime I see a post that&#39;s the size of my computer monitor, I can&#39;t be bothered to read it. The formatting makes them painful to read, and I suspect I&#39;m not the only one. So condense your point to ten or so lines or don&#39;t bother, mate.

...you equate the left with liberals, period. To you, there is no difference between a liberal, a leftist, a far leftist, a socialist or a communist. You lack a basic grasp of political scale and nuance. You even claim George Bush is a liberal and defend ethnic cleansing and genocide which shows how fucking off the charts to the right you actually are. No decent conservative would come to your aid much less touch you with a ten-foot pole in these talkbacks for fear of being contaminated by your insanity. There aren&#39;t adjectives powerful enough in the English language to fully describe what a mind-boggling idiot you are. The best thing about arguing with you is that you do all the work. The posts you treat us to are more revealing and effective than any insult I could possibly concoct. You also do the work by not responding to certain accusations and refusing to address various issues put to you. Your silence in these matters speaks volumes. You&#39;re the right-wing version of GingerTwit and Whananahara7 -- a complete joke.

I love the way that I AND ONLY I have to address the issues put before me, yet all of you cocksuckers never have to address a goddamn thing yourselves. I see no one actually refuted the claims in Ann Coulter&#39;s column, they just chose to insult her and try to degrade her, which is typical of Leftists, smear and destroy any woman who does not march in lock step with them, same thing they do with minorities. And you are so nuanced Pazuzu, please enlighten me as to all the different permutations a Leftist piece of shit can take. Come on, you can do it. You already told me how Leftists hated the Soviets, so please let me know what other crucial facts I have gotten wrong. Which way does the Earth really spin? And you seem obsessed with the fact that someone can&#39;t be right if others on his "side" don&#39;t come to his aid. This is an example of the lowest form of cowardice on this planet. You&#39;re a joiner Pazuzu, plain and simple. You are a coward, and you think like a coward, completely in fear of giving his own opinion, in fear of being "alone" in his opinion. You sicken me. Keep playing to the peanut gallery. Does it make you happy to have the acceptance of film geeks on an internet site? Is your life so empty? And then, to support the genocide of innocent Christians Pazuzu, for shame. How dare you condone the extermination of a peaceful people. You are a disgusting piece of excrement, who tries to deflect his own hatred, project his own hatred onto others. And for all your chest thumping, you still have not come up with one civil liberty that McCarthy unjustly took away from someone. I understand your hatred and hostility toward me, afterall, I don&#39;t repeat the talking points from the major news outlets, and I don&#39;t succcumb to the daily brainwashing. It must be hard to come face to face with your own ineptitude, your own stupidity, your own blindness. I too would rail against anyone who dared upset the status quo. DON&#39;T DARE GO AGAINST POPULAR OPINION HERE, OR PAZUZU WILL MAKE YOU PAY!!!! You remember Pazuzu, he&#39;s the one who reminded us that Leftists opposed the Soviets, and actually wanted us to defeat Communism in the 80&#39;s!!!! Gotta love that revisionist history. Next thing he&#39;ll say Gorbachev was solely responsible for ending the Cold War, and that the Cold War would have ended, and the Soviet Union would have collapsed without Reagan, it would have happened no matter who was in office. Come on Pazuzu, you know you want to say it. Tell us more, I love fairy tales!!! Especially NUANCED fairy tales!!! I lack a basic grasp of nuance, so please, give me some nuance. Is that the way to gain everyone&#39;s acceptance here? The only thing that matters in life is acceptance by Talkbackers!!! And really Pazuzu, for someone who claims to be so complicated, and such an intellectual, you employ a decidedly simplistic way of looking at things, and a particularly myopic view. All you can do is read something superficially, then you inject all your self-hatred, all your doubts, all your fears into that person, then call yourself nuanced. Anyone who was truly nuanced would never have such a simplistic view of the McCarthy siutation as you Pazuzu. In fact, ALL your opinions are very simple, very easy, very homogenized, they just float on the surface, meaning nothing. It must be nice to think of yourself as nuanced, but come on dude, let&#39;s be serious here. You lack a basic grasp of human nature, and of the world in general. Fuck, it is sad to know such twisted fucks as yourself are walking around out there. God help us all.

The reason why I respect Thunderballs is because of his excessive behaviour; anyone who can believe in something and take it that far is worth their weight in salt. (I say respect, that doesn&#39;t mean I want you guys in my home). And I also really respect Pazuzu, for his unyielding brazen vantage of the world. He is so down-the-middle that he&#39;s all alone. I gotta say I don&#39;t have an opinion on this rift, I just love seeing these little feisty repartees develop. Keep &#39;em coming boys.

You are cool with ethnic cleansing, you made that clear in the why we fight talkback, therefore every opinion you have can never been taken seriously, there is really no point in you posting anything else to do with politics because you have proved without doubt you are a total retard when it comes to issues like this. If you want to make people howl with laughter at you then go ahead and post your bullshit. But if you would like to remain with whatever scrap of dignity you have left then just quit while your so very far behind.

I take great joy in watching how you, in a single post, employ every single thing you attacked me for in the Why We Fight talkback. Profanity, vitriol, and rants. Hilarious. With each post you strengthen everything I&#39;ve said about you. When did I say leftists hated the Soviet Union? I said every LIBERAL I&#39;ve ever known hated the Soviets and Communism. Oh, that&#39;s right -- EVERYONE who is to the left of you is a "liberal", including George Bush and fascists. It&#39;s especially rewarding to see how you bray about me supposedly regurgitating others&#39; opinions and calling me a "coward" when you repeatedly have refused to name one single source for your own news and views of the world. Like I stated previously, I LOVE arguing with you because you do all the work for me. In any and all future talkbacks in which we meet, all I have to do is post links to this and the Why We Fight talkback and presto, you hand your ignorant ass to yourself. I love it.

As for Thunderballs. You&#39;re a punk. Why anyone who regards Ann Coulter with any degree of seriousness is posting on AICN is beyond me. Other than to rile people up, it&#39;s senseless. Anyway, consider me a liberal in many ways, a progressive in some. I may even be &#39;conservative&#39; in some ways, but seeing how the repugs and neocons are wrecking our society I&#39;d avoid that label until W is back on the ranch and Patrick Fitzgerald has cleared out the WH of every last conman.

To get back on topic, Clooney is not only cool, but smart as hell and a great asset to the &#39;&#39;left&#39;. I think 2005 was an incredible year for political films - Syriana, Munich, GNGL, Walmart: High Price of Low Cost, etc. I am glad to be able to look upon Clooney as one of our Hollywood liberal icons. Thunderballs can be happy with Ron Silver. Heh.

That&#39;s probably cause no one thought there was a point, Coulter makes few "claims," just stupid little jokes, which is probably reasonable considering she hasn&#39;t seen the movie, so she has no idea what claims to make. But I&#39;ll bite, "Half the reviewers so far have said "good night" to Clooney, and the other half have said "good luck." I&#39;m sure she felt pretty clever about that line, though given its 94% Rotten Tomato rating (naming it best reviewed film of 2005), its Golden Globe nominations, LA Film Critics Award, Online Film Critics Award, San Francisco Film Critics Award, and Boston Society Film Critics Award, I&#39;m not sure what world she&#39;s imagining where all these reviewers dismissed it. Coulter then says "As even liberal reviewers have noted, it was hardly an act of bravery for Edward R. Murrow to attack McCarthy. The New York Times was attacking McCarthy, The New York Post was attacking McCarthy and The Washington Post was attacking McCarthy." Hey, not only did liberal reviewers note that, the MOVIE itself notes that McCarthy wasn&#39;t the first in the game, but great, excellent job refuting a claim nobody is making. "I gather the movie&#39;s two examples of McCarthy&#39;s perfidy are the cases of Annie Lee Moss and Milo Radulovich." Well, the point Coulter seems to miss in many of her comments, is this is a movie about Murrow, so obviously Clooney would use what Murrow actually used, instead of just making up his own argument and pretending Murrow&#39;s broadcast was about the hundreds of other people McCarthy subpoenaed, outed, dismissed, etc. But more to the point, Coulter seems to imagine that Murrow using only these two people as examples means that that was Murrow&#39;s entire argument (which of course it wasn&#39;t), and that it further shows how harmless McCarthy really was, which is, given the facts, the thousands of people ultimately effected by the heightened paranoia as well as the hudreds of people directly effected by McCarthy himself and his hearings, its a ridiculous point to even try to effect on Coulter&#39;s part. Further, Coulter may be correct that Moss may have been correctly identified as a communist by McCarthy, though the movie (nor Murrow I believe) never makes mention of whether or not she is or isn&#39;t, so Coulter&#39;s point is mullified before she makes it. The effect of Moss&#39;s video, both in the movie and in its original broadcase, was to show the abusive temperment of McCarthy&#39;s inqusitions, and it was in large part that temperment that that footage displayed that led to the backlash, which is not at all an irrelevant point as Coulter seems to think. Milo Radulovich is the example Murrow, and therefor the movie uses for one of the many innocents effected by McCarthy&#39;s committee. Coulter&#39;s right, McCarthy never mentioned his name, why Coulter then imagines that means McCarthy&#39;s witch hunt had no effect on him I have no idea. It was the committee&#39;s labeling of his parents as communists that got him discharged, so, despite what Coulter seems to insist, Murrow&#39;s highlight of his story was in fact a prime example of the insiduous effects of McCarthy&#39;s committee, just as the movie suggests it was (emphasis on example, in the above, as in one of many people, not the entirety, or the "one liberal in the &#39;50s" Coulter imagines). Coulter then goes on to argue, well not argue, but say that no civil rights were actually denied. This claim comes from a very forced form of tunnel vision. McCarthy&#39;s abuse of public hearings as public recriminations against people was fairly implicit way of abusing civil rights. For example the way public hearings were used against those who asserted their 5th amendment rights (the 5th amendment, if you weren&#39;t aware, is part of the Bill of Rights, when you punish people for using it, you&#39;re effectively violating that right). And sure, he never put anyone in jail, but he sure enough did run around using his hearings to effectively label people communists when, or if they spoke out, ending their professional lives. The latter point is especially important in understanding how McCarthy abused individual&#39;s rights, it was the implicit understanding that his claims would be firmly reinforced by the private sector that made his public admonitions so effective, and damaging. The hundreds of people "outed" for taking the 5th, the hundreds of people dismissed from government employee, the people accussed of being communist for speaking out or disagreeing, these people&#39;s professional lives would be ended by McCarthy&#39;s work as they would essentially become unemployable. Coulter carries the idea that civil rights weren&#39;t abused because none of these may have been express denials of civil rights by McCarthy or the government, because the power to punish and deter people from various rights came from an implicit, coerced, cooperation, rather than explicit, forced, denials. But that&#39;s a completely wrongheaded idea, and a forced veil of ignorance of the atmosphere and vileness McCarthy inspired. That implicit understanding that in the private sector these people would become effectively unemployable, is what makes McCarthy&#39;s witchhunt such an abuse of government power and of civil rights, it was in this way McCarthy and his hearings denied people their individual rights, their fifth amendment rights, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly.

i was at the event in SB. clooney was great - savvy, funny, self-deprecating and even managed to slip his politics in there without offending the old montecito moneybags in the audience. then, when grant heslov gave him his award, he accidentally dropped it and it broke. the crowd went wild. hy-larious.

Well done. You&#39;re the only one here with balls. While I agree that Coulter&#39;s conclusions can be somewhat simpleminded, there is no denying the fact that she says what a lot of people think, no matter what you cloistered Leftists may think. I love the fact that she always brings up the fact that Teddy Kennedy killed a woman.

"I love the way that I AND ONLY I have to address the issues put before me, yet all of you cocksuckers never have to address a goddamn thing yourselves" .... That looks really, really painful. Let&#39;s ignore for a moment that in the last talkback I responded to all your issues and questions save one. I asked you repeatedly to address certain issues and questions, and you either flatly refused or ignored them, but then asked me to answer YOUR question about strife in Muslim countries. When I replied that sure, I&#39;ll answer that one as well once YOU start answering questions, you backed off, stating that we basically couldn&#39;t understand your answers, that we weren&#39;t good enough to learn the identity of your news sources and that you suddenly didn&#39;t want me to answer your question, since you "already knew" what my reply would be. Now, Spaz Master comes in and totally owns you on McCarthy and Coulter and you start pretending that you&#39;re a magnanimous and forthright guy, which made my whole day. What a little bitch. Fucking hilarious.

If Spaz Master is the only one "with balls" in here for schooling you hard on McCarthy, Thunderballs, what does that make you who refuses to answer all sorts of questions? I&#39;m still waiting, for example, to hear how I&#39;m a supporter of genocide against Christians. Love, Doc.

This guy is just consistently great. Thoughtful, amazingly talented, intelligent, unbelievably good looking (the bastard!) Good Noght and Good Luck is one of the best films I&#39;ve seen all year. Its sharp, smart and brilliantly shot and acted. I hope Clooney&#39;s around for a lonfg time. Thanks for the cool interview Quint!

I am a forthright guy, when someone actually makes a good point. Unfortunately, that is not a common occurrence around these parts. You see, all you do is make judgments based on scant evidence, the same thing you accuse yours truly of. But I appreciate your attention, for like a work of art, I need love, and attention. Please, keep giving it to me. If I say that will it make you get a life?

On the contrary, Thunderballs. You&#39;ve proven beyond a doubt with your stated opinions how incredibly cretinous you are. All the evidence required is what you yourself freely post. Whenever you refrain from mentioning sources or addressing issues, it has fuck all to do with integrity and everything to do with your deep, revolting cowardice and moral bankruptcy. You&#39;re simply writing huge intellectual checks which you lack the basic funds - knowledge, judgment, wisdom, intelligence, and insight - to cash.

Let`s face it, if there were any people in Cinema that were communist, it was just a fad to them, like loving Buddism these days. That McCarthy chose to make a witch hunt out of it was because he wanted to punish the Jews that were controling tinseltown. That`s the truth behind all of this.

A Jew hater would never have a Jew as his right hand man, no matter how slick they were, and Roy Cohn was slick. I don&#39;t understand why there is all this hate for a man that was trying to defend America from the evils of Communism and the Soviet Union. Same with the wire tapping of suspected terrorists and their sympathizers, are some of you fucking kidding me? Why is there this intense desire to make America weak? I know you mean well, but you&#39;re all living in fantasy land. And this bullshit notion you all have of civil liberties... do you know how naive you sound? And dangerous, for it seems some of you would rather have 1,000 Americans die before one wiretap was ever placed. It&#39;s actually quite childish in its starkness and simplemindedness. Your liberties are not absolute, they are relative, even in America. It just so happens America is the greatest country in the world, and will continue to be the greatest country in the world. Long Live America. Fuck Everyone Else! And Keep America Strong!!!! Do not listen to those who feign patriotism by spouting off the ACLU talking points. They criticize and attack America at every opportunity. Just look at today, the Coretta Scott King funeral, stupid fucking Liberals getting up there and talking about WMD and Iraq, and attacking foreign policy. For crying out loud, have some fucking respect. Can you imagine what would happen if conservatives did that at a funeral if the president were a Democrat? Such lowly pieces of excrement. Jimmy Carter is their leader. And Ted "I KILL WOMEN BUT THEN SCOLD POTENTIAL SUPREME COURT JUSTICES FOR NOT STANDING UP FOR WOMEN&#39;S RIGHTS" Kennedy. And to anyone here who goes by the name of the devil and claims to be a moderate, someone who stakes claim to the middle of the road.....chastise and ridicule me all you like, at the end of the day, you&#39;re a moderate! Is there anymore intellectually bankrupt position to take? You stand for nothing, you believe in nothing. You have no passion, except to criticize the passion in others. You have no ideas, except to strike down the ideas of others. Who do you appeal to? You&#39;re a fucking milktoast. Someone who just floats through life, no one particularly remembers them, and no one particularly liked or disliked them, cause they were a fucking moderate, someone whose sole view is no view at all. No one respects a moderate. You see, I respect all those shitbags on the far left, cause at least they give a fuck about something, even if it is the rapid destruction of America. They have passion, they have beliefs, they actually live!! What do you do? Nothing, you wait until the media has had its way with you, raped your anus, and told you all you need to know about the candidates and/or issues. You are a nothing, a mere piffle. I actually pity you now that I think about it. What a sad person you are. I am glad I am here to be the target of your barbs. Gives you something to do, fixate on, cause lord knows you care about nothing else. How is your job? How is your real life?

"I don&#39;t understand why there is all this hate for a man that was trying to defend America from the evils of Communism and the Soviet Union." ..... As usual, you reveal yourself to be staggeringly shallow and stupid, Thunderballs. Plenty of people tried to defend America from Communism and the Soviet Union but did it with honor and in accordance with what makes America great. As a result, they don&#39;t suffer the hatred so justly heaped upon your hero, Joe. Also, I found it hysterical to read your assessment of the nature of moderates. I suppose some progress is being made in that narrow, fetid brainpan of yours since you no longer refer to me as a "liberal" or a "leftist". Hearing someone on the event horizon right - where no decisions or creative thought are ever employed and where hamfisted, cookie-cutter solutions are the answer to everything

This has gone from a half decent interview to quite possibly the worlds most boring talkback. Thunderballs: Leave addressing &#39;issues&#39; to the crossfire gang, or your shrink, or your Dad. Who the fuck wants to hear it let alone have to sit there and read it. Admittedly I only read half of it, but I gave you a chance, and it bored me. Despite being about as sincere as something by NSync, lets address what this is really about... You&#39;re different, you&#39;ve got a different point of view, you&#39;re special, you&#39;re a living, breathing fingerprint, we get it. You seem to be the equivalent of a girl who paints her face white, and dyes her hair black, wear chokers and listens to Sepultura, because they were never in the &#39;popular crowd&#39; in school so they isolate themselves and become as different as possible in order to be noticed... but you&#39;re just not interesting enough to be challenging to anyone. DocPazuzu must be bored if he&#39;s bothering with you.... I know I am. Oh would you look at that.. Rio Tinto Ltd is up... there&#39;s another 3 grand.. fuck I love my job.. Bedtime.. Good Night.

Yep, I&#39;m reeling in shock from the might of your poli-fu punch combos. In fact, I can&#39;t remember ever being so thoroughly humiliated by anyone in talkback before. You have routed me at every turn, responding to every one of my accusations with wit, knowledge and profound insight, leaving me stunned and unable to mount any kind of defense. You are truly a giant among thinkers, Thunderballs.

I&#39;m going to go out on a limb here and place a bet on birdy birdman being Courtland Mead and that he&#39;s 14 years old and fancies himself a homeboy who likes to call himself "nigga_courtland". What are the odds on being right on this, you ask? Quite good, apparently, since birdy posted this link to his homepage while issuing a film challenge to Christophe Gans: http://www.myspace.com/nigga_courtland. Any takers?